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WHISTLER'S PAST  Selection Whistler Overview Getting To Whistler 10 Reasons To Go Whistler Village Whistler's Mountains Whistler's PastBest Holiday Deals 360° View Whistler Webcam Whistler Photos Top 2 images courtesy of the Whistler Museum & Archives. Reproductions can be purchased from the Whistler Museum & Archives at http://whistlermuseum.org Email:info@whistlermuseum.org Bottom image courtesy of Myrtle Philip's Whistler Pioneer Photos. For more information visit http://collections.ic.gc.ca/myrtlephilip     Alta Lake was the original name of Whistler. The name Whistler was used by the early 1900s settlers because of the shrill whistle sound made by the western hoary marmots who live among the rocks.   Myrtle and Alex Philip, both from Maine, arrived in Whistler in 1911, eventually building the popular Rainbow Lodge on Alta Lake.   In the beginning, the journey to Whistler took three days a steamer ship ride from Vancouver to Squamish, overnight in Brackendale, and a two-day horse trek up the Pemberton Trail.   In 1914, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, now B.C. Rail, reached Alta Lake and opened up the valley to the outside world. In the early years, Whistler was a base for logging and mining as well as tourism.   Whistler's evolution into a world class ski resort began in the early 1960s when a group of Vancouver businessmen sought to develop the site to host a future Winter Olympic Games. The site was narrowed down to London Mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park, the mountain that in 1965 would be called Whistler Mountain.   The Olympic bid failed, but in 1962, the Garibaldi Lift Company was formed with Franz Wilhelmsen as president. Its goal was to erect and operate lifts on Whistler Mountain.   By the fall of 1965, there was a four-person gondola to the mountain's mid-station, a double chairlift to the treeline, and two T-bars along with a day lodge. Whistler Mountain opened to the public in 1966.   In 1975, Whistler became a municipality. In 1977, 53 acres of Crown Land was given to the new municipality to develop a town centre that would become Whistler Village.   Blackcomb Mountain opened in the winter of 1980/81, creating one of the largest ski complexes in North America.   In 1992, Snow Country Magazine voted Whistler/Blackcomb as the Number One Ski Resort in North America, and the trend has continued for almost a decade.   In 1998, Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains merged under Intrawest Corp. and in 1999, the community's population hit 9,000.

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